To finish my story on how to hunt werewolves I needed to research two different topics. The pack mentality of wolves and a komodo dragon's venom. Wikipedia was not part of this. You can't really trust that site can you? So I chose more along the lines of National Geographic and Animal Planet.

No more is to be spoiled about werewolf packs. Komodo dragons get my reverence and annoyance for tonight. I wrote this scene on the venom of werewolf pups while sitting at an Oodles N' Noodles or Nothin' But Noodles (we have both here in Charlotte) for a solitary lunch.

... Within the gland is a fast acting virus containing components which brings upon: respiratory difficulties, inflammation and degradation of the vocal cords, and a shut down of central arteries leading to a final paralysis of all bodily functions.

Komodo will not be accused of lying because of my ignorance. I am not a biologist. Snakes are my new, closer striking problems when dealing with venom. Without realizing it, I wasn't writing about a Komodo dragon these few months ago. Thinking back on it now, I remember a fact sputtered out from a show on The Animal Planet.

A baby copperhead's venom is far more potent than that of the parent. Deadlier, if you were so inclined to use less words. Those symptoms above are actually that of a neurotoxin. So this works. A pup has more potent venom within the glands above their teeth.

No hard feelings kid, now do you have a fresh corpse to spare?

All joking aside, 1)the Komodo above has a truly beautiful coloration, and 2) I'm glad I found the truth. I have to put some basis (one of my nifty words for facts) into the stories. Even if they do involve creatures which shouldn't actually be around.

I'm sure if you call a gnome a midget they have some... Issues to pick with you. See, ha-ha! Lame pun humor! You know right? Gnomes use pick axes for their work. No? Alright then. So back to regular programming!

After getting better at Modern Warfare 3 and stuffing things into the garage- along with waffles in the mouth- I have decided to think about gnomes. My garage looks more like a cave than anything with its clutter. In which we are going to clean out later.

What do you think about when you hear the word gnome? Little people with a pointy hat right? How about little people with a communist hat. The Red Scare does not play into my story but for a few inferences for the somewhat inept protagonist/antagonist.

He, Tom, is the antagonist also because of future actions in the story. I will not spoil them.

Only in America or Japan...

No offense to the Japanese, non at all.

Now back to the point!

Yes, yes, the gnomes live underground. In a graveyard to be exact where the plants grow plentiful.

The main character constantly calls them midgets. Because of this politically correct world I might have to change that word midget. I'm not sure how it matters though.

What do you care tall guy? Oh, I see. Please put the gun down. No? I'm going to run to the bathroom now.

Granted I still haven't had the pleasure of reading William S. Burroughs works; I know... I'll just keep quiet now. I'm sorry William, I don't know anything about your greatness. Please forgive this insolence!

I just asked my infinitely smart mother about the "M-Word" and I can use it. Tom the protagonist/antagonist/musician can call the gnomes midgets. Why? It fits in with the story. Like the "N-Word" I'm sure as hell not going to mention here; the characters create those words.

Some people are mean. They'll show up in every story everywhere and in every age. It is unavoidable if it works.

As in, Ruby Caves is going to have a few scenes cut out of it. Some new ones will be put in. For example in chapter two a werewolf is disrupted during a meal. Instead of mauling the people it calmly tells them to go away.It calmly tells them to go away... It calmly tells them.....

Yes, the werewolves in my story talk. More on them some other time. My point is that during an author's plot, things need to change for realism. Because while realism sucks hairy monkey ass we still want it around anyway. Who knew? Anyways, anyways; there was no reason for the werewolf to destroy the family's SUV and go after the little dog too!

The two, Sarah and her son Michael, leave it alone. So why bother them any longer? Well you'll see eventually- my life just got better again. I'll tell you guys why tomorrow. Also, if any of you have seen Piranha 3D,there is a massacre scene (naturally, prehistoric fish duh, what do you expect?)Well a similarwas going to appear near the ending of my novel.

Naturally, werewolves duh, what do you expect?

No, this is not what you should expect. After watching Aja's fetish for gore, I began to understand why I was having so many reservations on writing it. For one- the only reason you guys will get for now, you know I have to keep relevance- it makes absolutely no since.

If a bunch of (hundreds upon hundreds) of teenagers were going to die, it doesn't matter how secluded the town is among its high werewolf population. The Howling anyone? Our National Army and every other gunmen is going to be on that town within a couple of hours. To shoot some nasty stuff!

They wanted to keep this town a safe haven for werewolves. Mainly from getting poked by scientists. Back to the point, back to the point, you say! Well yes, there is far too much exposure. It does not fit within the basic nature of the plot anyway. A few werewolves are prone to be a threat- but in a slightly more subtle-

Hi, I'm Fuzzy Butt!

Hello Fuzzy Butt, now please go sit back down. And stop gnawing on that poor cat's head. Okay-hokey boss! So anyways, you see the predicament. No slaughterhouse. Got it? Good, now scramboozle!

I, whatever the hell I want. I pick the third. There are three beginnings to my zombie story and all of them are wrong. Here is the reigning entry:

***"Do you remember anything past two weeks ago?"

I mulled it over while rolling a piece of watermelon gum with my tongue. Until noon tomorrow the pack I had with me was my only source of water.***

This doesn't work. I work out suspense early, check. Snappy dialog, sure. Wordy enough but obscene- I have that too. So what's wrong with this? It doesn't make any since.

Spoiler: The plot is about one man who seeks any form of human contact after locking himself into a panic room for two weeks. His supplies (as you could see the water) are running dangerously low. Finally, at the beginning, he meets a man over the radio. They plan on meeting at noon the next day. Will they survive the zombie hordes long enough to seek refuge?

One zombie, two zombie, three... Husky?

Well, zombie husky says maybe. The issue is, if they just then meet, neither one are going to ask about memories. They are going to be really shocked to hear each other. I thought about breaking away from that cliche, but it is standard. Not cliche. So I need to start it out with something everyone recognizes from other zombie media.

Without pronouns in our language no one would be able to reliably understand each other. However when dealing with different types of voices pronouns may not actually work. Say for example monsters who are completely and utterly inhuman. Or a monster who is only sub-human, it works for them.

This is sub-human.

The above creature is the prime antagonist of After Shadows Call; a soon to be released and complete edited (not any less frightening) version of Atrocity. Anyways, there is a lack of pronouns in one particular sequence of the Wendigo's thought process.

Growling in the building blood lust, forced the mind to drift out of body. Darkness, but a sign near. It's starving. The beacon was strong, greed. It's starving. Eyes roll back within closed lids, mind exploring the surroundings. It's starving. Footsteps farther away, no threat... But they belonged to a victim. It's starving.

See what it does? Monsters can be smart or a bit on the dim side but it ultimately doesn't matter. We as the reader generally get the human's point of view. That is great and gives depth. However, looking into the head of a monster is infinitely more interesting at times.

Which finally brings me to some comparison pieces of Children of the Void. Here is a snippet of the first story.

***

The being’s intestines churned violently with the lack of food. Another twisting and the being bent its legs, the black scales of its underbelly hovering just above the snow. Large spouts of steam escaped from its massive jaws as it panted heavily in pain. Four muscular legs now felt weak under its weight. It wavered to the left, drunkenly scrabbling at the ice to stay strong.

Keeping its balance forced another strong churning of its intestines, longer than before. It whined loudly in pain, digging black claws into the snow. The being lowered its head; empty stomach releasing dry heaves of rancid air. Its long spine tipped tail jerked in the air, smacking against the trees.

***

Notice a problem? The pronoun "being" is used way too much. It drags the story down. Now, compare this to the first paragraph of the second version.

Now bits and pieces are better connected. Monsters aren't going to care whether their victim is male or female. It will note specific aspects of that victim but not exactly discern anything but a distraction.

Last night I wrote with a fury. I was reading reviews for a movie I wanted to see. Drive, with Ryan Gosling; I'm sure you've heard of it by now. The heroism and escapism through highly realistic gore was just too epic for me to ignore. I had to study this silent hero. And then I finally did it. I began to tell the story of Dave.

For two and a half hours from the beginning of midnight I wrote and studied the original hero archetype. This world is fucked and corrupt, everyone knows that. We need a hero. We need someone to look up to. Not a deity particularly but just someone we know is going to be there.

I am on the verge of writing an escapist hero. He is violent. He is vulgar. He is the inner human who wants to get out of all of us. To release that rage we feel at corruption but are far too scared of the consequences. He gives to charity and even helps out the local community he happens to wander around in.

Figure this with normal clothes and more firepower.

I must leave you great folks for now. Snippets of the story will be released to tease you. We may need heroes but I can pretty evil at times. Oh actually there are two quotes about heroes.

Remember the post about me not publishing Last Action Wizard? Well I'm still keeping that promise; but I used to not like it. Now as an author saying he doesn't like his own work is downgrading- it was a ruse. I like it now. So what was the issue in the first place?

More action than characterization. The entire plot- and there's nothing to spoil so don't worry- involves Dave (a mercenary) helping a wizard in a raid against would be kidnappers. Actually, more of the most brutal sting operation; raid sounds too much like World of Warcraft.

Oh no, I was wrong! And of course I'm not gonna start dissing on Dave, he's too much of a bad ass. So, after I got that through copious amounts of hair... On my skull... I remembered something great in that story other than the action! My characters aren't as flimsy or wooden as Kristen Stewart. They have what every 80s action fan wants- or even what Hollywood isn't realizing lately.

Remotely interesting characters with flare. Comedy. Spicy, quick dialog. But back to those characters. Harold the Wizard thinks he's a wizard who actually may or may not be a wizard. That's what makes him so great. He's unpredictable and just doesn't give a damn. Dave is the same way.

And then there are the differences. Dave is a more up-close-and-personal killer; he doesn't like using guns that much. Harold however, is an excellent marksman- I mean so is Dave... The wizard thinks he's something supernatural while Dave knows who he is. While hardcore in everything, each of them both have a little heart.

So how does this heart show up? Through dialog. I absolutely hate reading a three page bio on a character in a story. Especially when it's in the middle of an action scene. So I let the characters talk and learn about each other. Along with a few asides through fight scenes; but essentially a quick sentence and then move on.

It's all people really need. As my mom keeps telling me, your overactive imagination will fill out the rest.

I wanted to explain just a little about the story Cursed Lamentations. My writing was still a bit immature at that point. I admit this with no shame. This is part of my journey. A love for horror movies is what brought it out. Now though, I realized those movies were never actually frightening.

Was it my fanaticism with werewolves that started it? Maybe. I was tired of seeing the likes of cute and oh-so-falsely-menacing beasts. Werewolves to me, at that time of writing, were not very nice. Although they could be redeemable. Research into the infamous Peter Stubbe, proved for an interesting character.

A serial killer accused of being a werewolf? How is that not a highly intriguing concept? Yes he was real. Around the year 500 AD, in present day Germany. Was he a werewolf? Of course not, they do not exist. More research allowed me to take a twist to his death.

What if he never died? See in my mind, werewolves are intolerably hard to kill. Agreeable yes? Well, how about the aid of a demon, that would work out. Immortality is a subject many like to touch up on. With all of these biological, technological, and medicinal breakthroughs; humans are living longer lives.

Case in real point, this story is a response to our drive for immortality. If you haven't read the story- here is a spoiler. Peter gave up his ever lasting soul for vengeance against his killers. More in the aforementioned story in a few years. So what are we, as humans, willing to risk for immortality?

Eternal damnation, psychological imprisonment of oneself, or even chronic pain? Soon enough we'll find out. I personally, don't want to be immortal because of the concept of losing family and friends who are still mortal. I don't want to roam the streets forever lonely, or watch the earth die.

Cursed Lamentations was an experimental piece, not meant for publications. Same goes for Last Action Wizard. As an author I know a few faults will rise, I'm prepared to barrel right through them.